Not everyone loves the last show before a big PPV, but we recappers do. Why? Because they're usually stuffed with filler and not all that hard to write. Let's see if that's the case as Greensboro, NC welcomes the Raw before SummerSlam, live on USA.

Renee Young joins the announce team tonight, subbing for Jonathan Coachman, becoming the first ever female to do commentary for Raw. It’s a well-deserved honor. She gets to help welcome Ronda Rousey to the ring, and she’s choked up about the death of Natalya’s father, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. She gives a nice speech in support of her friend before introducing the superstar she says will beat Alexa Bliss tonight, Ember Moon. That brings Bliss and Alicia Fox out to the stage, and the women’s champ is as defiant as ever, saying SummerSlam will be Rousey’s utter humiliation. Also, she’s … hired her own “highly trained, highly aggressive” personal security. That’s different.Also, is Foxy supposed to be dressed as Poison IVy? She’s wearing some leafs on her head. Bliss hits Moon with a cheap shot, and the security guards prevent Rousey from getting across the ring. Well, they try, anyway. Rousey tears through three of them, the fourth decides he wants no part of Rowdy, and Fox fares no better. There’s still a match coming after the break.

Match 1 - Ember Moon vs. Alexa Bliss

Hey, commercials for SummerSlam during the match. That’s always fun. Bliss is still selling some damage Rousey did to her arm, but why the heck does she have to wrestle six days before the PPV? Seems a bit unfair. Bliss does plenty of talking to Rousey while she’s working Moon over on the mat, even blowing a kiss to Ronda at one point. Moon gets her legs under her with a cool tornado DDT attempt that she switches into a suplex, but Rousey takes some shots from the champ on the floor when she tries to neutralize Fox. Moon takes full advantage, hitting the Eclipse, but Fox breaks up the pin, and the ref calls for the bell. Rousey isn’t about to let Moon get smacked around after the bell, nearly yanking Foxy’s arm out of her socket. She might just be able to regrow it, though, in that plant get-up.

In case you needed to relive it, we get an overview of what Brock Lesnar has been up to the last few weeks. The highlight is Paul Heyman’s interview, which is something I actually will watch for a second time.

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre visit Kurt Angle because they heard a rumor that Seth Rollins isn’t at the arena yet. The GM assures them the Kingslayer will be here and kicks them out of his office.

Match 2 - “The Constable” Baron Corbin vs. Tyler Breeze

Corbin got to choose his own opponent tonight, as well as one for Finn Balor. The announcers hilariously sell it as Corbin wanting to pick someone of similar stature to Balor. Heh. You can probably guess how this is going to go down, as Breeze is more competitive than the Constable assumed he would be. Alas, Prince Pretty eventually falls into the clutches of the Deep Six and is pinned. Corbin grabs a mic to brag about how good he is and introduces Balor’s foe, Jinder Mahal. But wait: The Constable figures Finn can handle a handicap match, so he brings out Balor’s second opponent as well, Kevin Owens.

After a commercial break, Angle comes to the stage to throw a monkey wrench into the proceedings. And it’s a big one, as he turns this into a tag team match. Of course, the Monster Among Men is the addition.

The heels get to work right off the bat to isolate Balor and prevent him from tagging Strowman into the action. They can’t hold off the big man forever, though, as Mahal gets those hands and also has the misfortune of having Strowman throw Balor at him. Finn’s somersault plancha takes out both heels before more ads disrupt the flow. Wait, are we doing the double hot tag in this one? I think we are. Yep, we do see it, and even Sunil Singh getting involved can’t stop Strowman from pinning Mahal with a running powerslam. During the post-match hijinks, which see Strowman chasing Owens to the back, Corbin sneaks in and gets the edge he was hoping to have going into Sunday, nailing Balor with the End of Days and then giving himself a round of applause afterward.

Ziggler and McIntyre check on Rollins’ travel issues, insinuating that Seth is just too scared to show up for his IC title match contract signing. Dolph also asks to see the contract ahead of time to make sure everything is in order.

Wait, that’s not Elias. It’s hometown boy Ricky Roberts, who proclaims that Elias is his favorite musician in the whole world. He says he’ll one day make the country music hall of fame, and when he does, Elias will talk to him. Or something. Elias sits on his stool out on stage and starts talking, eventually getting around to start in on Greensboro. Oh, Ricky is going to wrestle Bobby Lashley. Okay then.

Match 4 - Bobby Lashley vs. Ricky Roberts

Roberts tries to get the drop on Lashley by hitting him with a guitar shot. The ref can’t believe it and leaves the ring, so I’m not sure this is even an official match. In any case, Lashley whips Roberts into the ropes and leaves him on his back with a huge one-armed spinebuster. Message sent to Elias, one supposes.

Bo Dallas worries about the odds of the B-Team winning tonight with two teams against them. He double checked the math, too. Curtis Axel reminds him that it wasn’t math that got them where they are today and that this has been the best run of their lives, regardless of what happens. He’s not wrong.

Dash and Dawson are both from North Carolina, so this is kind of a home game for The Revival, as it is for Hardy. The Revival pay homage to Neidhart with a Hart Attack on Hardy, which is a nice gesture. Eventually, things get a little chaotic, and Bray Wyatt ends up on the wrong end of the Shatter Machine. Alas, Axel is still the legal man at the time, having blind tagged Scott Dawson, and he chucks Dawson out of the ring and steals the pinfall so the champs retain.

The B-Team’s celebration disturbs Roman Reigns as he walks through the back of the arena, and all he can do is shake his head. Us too, Big Dog.

Ziggler and McIntyre check in with Angle again. The suspense, people. THE SUSPENSE!

Reigns is going to cut a promo, it appears. He says the goal he always keeps in mind is to leave this place better than he found it, but he can’t accomplish that with Brock Lesnar around. He promises to send Brock so far back to the UFC that his head will be stuck up Dana White’s ass. An unusually jovial Heyman, given what he’s been through, interrupts. He offers Reigns a chance to make history before SummerSlam, saying he’ll provide all of Lesnar’s secrets to guarantee he can beat Brock. Reigns says he already had Lesnar beaten in Saudi Arabia were it not for Heyman, which Paul admits is true. Despite that, Heyman continues his pitch to become Roman’s advocate. He declines, of course, wishing Heyman luck in his future endeavors. Paul reminds Roman that he rode in cars with Reigns’ father and uncle as a teenager and learned some things, including a phrase in Samoan. We’ll need that translated for us. Heyman offers Reigns an agreement in principle and says the Big Dog can look it over and give an answer on Sunday. When he goes to read it, Heyman sprays something in Roman’s eyes. Pepper spray, maybe? Lesnar is coming down now, right? The long con, played to perfection. Brock gets to the ring with the quickness and starts throwing hands and knees that crumple Reigns. The Universal Champion chokes Reigns out for a bit, then leaves with Heyman in tow. Oh wait, he’s not leaving. Lesnar returns to the ring and delivers an F-5. Some of the fans want another, but the champ has had enough for now. That was actually a little anticlimactic, to be honest.

We must be short on time tonight, because this match started when we were still seeing replays of the previous segment. Come on WWE, get it together. Ah, maybe it wasn’t worth showing the introductions for such a short match, which Roode wins with a Glorious DDT on Rawley. Thanks for playing.

Angle sees to Reigns as he gets medical attention. As one does.

The WWE pays tribute to The Anvil with a nice memorial video. This one takes me back.

Here’s a good question: Is it really a special start time for SummerSlam now that pretty much every pay-per-view starts at 7:00 ET?

A pretty even match eventually ends up with all the other women at ringside getting involved. The chaos works to Riott’s favor, and she gets the biggest win since her return by pinning The Boss. Expect this feud to continue.

Corbin chastises Angle for waiting to the last minute to have the contract signing between Ziggler and Rollins, reminding him that Stephanie is going to be upset if the match doesn’t go down. We’re running out of show here.

Angle stalls for time by giving us a Reigns update. He can still compete at SummerSlam, and the GM won’t suspend Lesnar because he’s rooting for Reigns to win, once again asserting that Brock is the worst Universal Champion ever. Ziggler and McIntyre call him on his time-wasting, and a panicked Angle calls for Rollins twice to no avail. The heels launch into a speech that accuses Rollins of pushing himself too hard for the fans. Now maybe these guys are stalling too. Amazing. Ziggler asks for the contract so they can officially make it a Seth Rollins forfeit, signing his name on the dotted line. Naturally, though, Rollins’ music hits and he walks out on stage. He says he’s been here for a while but didn’t want to come out until Ziggler signed the contract. Turns out the travel issues weren’t his, and he was working on getting someone in his corner at SummerSlam. To counter the Scottish Psychopath, Seth figured he ought to have a Lunatic in his. Sporting a much shorter haircut than last time we saw him, Dean Ambrose is in the house. Rollins and Ambrose rush the ring and a four-man scrap is on. McIntyre gets a superkick from Rollins that sets up Dirty Deeds, and the fans are loving that as Rollins quickly adds his name to the contract. Enjoy SummerSlam, and we’ll see you all in seven!

Nick Tylwalk has been with SLAM! Wrestling since the dawn of time, or at least since before the turn of the century. He spends his days overseeing FanSided's Entertainment efforts, but he'll always make time to sneak away for some wrestling.